Every Rose Has Its Thorns
by GlamourMoon
Summary: Embry/OC. Sam Uley finds Riley, a young runaway, and takes her in. Sam, Emily and Embry work together to find out what to do with her and why she ran away in the first place.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first story, so I hope you guys enjoy. :)**

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**Sam POV**

I saw a small, black and gray bundle next to a tree. The bundle was actually a girl, a young teenager. In her hands was a small, dirty gym bag. I stopped immediately, hoping I wasn't noticed, but soon realized that it didn't matter. The girl was sleeping.

I phased out of my wolf form, pulled on my cut off shorts and quietly walked up to her. As soon as I reached out to wake her up, she screamed and jumped up.

"Sorry," I said calmly. "I'm—" before I could even get my name out, the girl ran past me. "Wait!" I yelled. She didn't stop or even look back. I quickly ran after her. The girl was a fast runner, but I caught up to her and grabbed her arm. She screamed again before she started thrashing around.

"Let me go!" She reached for her bag that fell to the moist ground.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I said, trying to get her to calm down. "My name is Sam Uley." The girl didn't listen. She thrashed around, making me lose my grip. She hit the ground with a thud. I held her down so she would stop throwing her arms around, but softly, not wanting to hurt her.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Let me go. Please, stop it!" She started crying.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said again. She ignored me.

"Let's get you home. Where do you live?"

"No! I'm not going back there. Get off me!" I sighed. She's a runaway I'm sure. It's not hard to tell that something bad had happened to her. There is no way I can bring her back home now. Not tonight anyway…

"How about you stay at my house for the night? I have to go do something but my fiancée, Emily, can get you something to eat and find you somewhere to sleep tonight. It'll be a lot safer than being out here."

"No!" She yelled before screaming again. She was still crying though, and I heard her heart speed up. She's scared, and I knew this would make her ten times more scared, but I gathered her in my arms and stood up.

"It'll be ok. I promise." I started walking, carrying the girl against my chest.

The walk to Emily's and my house is pretty short, but it seemed longer due to the fact that the girl kept fighting me, at least until we almost got there. She fell asleep toward the end of the walk.

**Girl's POV**

I screamed and pushed as hard as I could against Sam's chest. He's too strong for me. All I want is for him to let me go and let me run as far from here as I can but he won't. I keep trying to get away but I just get more and more tired the further he walks.

It's Sam I'm scared of right now. I hate him touching me. It freaks me out, I don't like it. But I've heard stories about him. About how he helps people around La Push and keeps it safe with his little 'gang' or whatever it is. William –I flinched from just thinking this name— would always complain about him, he hated Sam Uley. But he really can't be that bad, can he? I'm still scared.

I started falling asleep in Sam's arms, but I want to be awake when we get there… wherever he's taking me. And it's going to be hard to stay alert when I'm sleeping. I tried to open my closed eyes but it seemed impossible. I gave my last and best try at getting away from him before exhaustion came over me and I drifted into sleep.

_"It's ok, I won't hurt you Riley." I looked into the man's eyes and saw lies._

_"Yes…yes you will. Leave me alone. I hate you!"_

_"Now, that's not very nice." He walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. I pushed it away and hit him as hard as I could._

_"You little shit." The tall man pulled a gun out and pointed it at me._

_"No! No please don't. Don't shoot!" The gun went off and I screamed but never felt it._

I woke with a jolt, almost falling to the floor. My breath caught in my throat, and for a second I couldn't breathe. The room was dark, other than a small light coming from a hallway behind me. I took a deep breath and got my heart to calm down a little.

When my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, I took in my surroundings. I'm on a plush couch with a very soft blanket over me. My bag is sitting next to the couch, near my head. A chair is across the room from me and at the end: a TV.

I didn't fall asleep the rest of the night, due to my nightmare. When footsteps came down the hall and light switches were flipped on, I feigned sleep. I heard the door open but by then, I was drifting back to real sleep.

**Embry POV**

When I walked into Sam and Emily's house I saw a girl I've never met, asleep on the couch. This girl is probably a year or two younger than me and she's beautiful. She has long, slightly messed up, wavy blonde hair, and she is wearing gray sweats and an old black t-shirt.

"Embry… did you…?" Sam said in a hushed tone, walking up to me. I easily completed his sentence in my head._ Embry, did you imprint on her?_ I smiled to myself.

"Yeah, I did." I smiled even wider. "Who is she?" I whispered, remembering that the girl is asleep. Sam pulled me into the kitchen.

"I have no idea Embry. She was out in the forest and I brought her here."

"Why not home?" Not that I have anything against Sam bringing her here. If he didn't I wouldn't have imprinted on her.

"For a few reasons: one, she wouldn't tell me her name or where she lives. Two: she starting yelling and got scared when I said something about her going home. Three: I am pretty certain she is a runaway and something bad happened to her. I'm not going to think about bringing her home until I find out what happened."

"What if she never tells you?"

"You have a whole lot of questions don't you?" Sam said with a small smile. "Well, honestly I haven't figured out what to do yet."

"I want to meet her." I can't wait for her to wake up

"Just slow down Embry," Emily walked into the kitchen.

"Hey have you met that girl out there yet? What's she like?"

"I haven't met her Embry. Did you-"

"Imprint on her? Yes. Yes I did. She's so pretty Emily."

"Sam, what are we going to do?" Emily asked as the three of us sat at the table. "We can't just keep her here without the police knowing, that's illegal."

"I know. They would consider it kidnapping. It's even worse that she's a runaway but I don't want to turn her in." Sam has a good point but it doesn't stop what I say next.

"I'll take her in. She can come live with me. I just got my own house. It's small but two people can live there. I don't care about the law either. I'll take all the blame if the cops find out."

"Embry, no," Sam said with a sigh. "We'll just have to talk to her when she's up. She doesn't know you so I doubt she'll want to move in with you right away." I gave Sam a small frown but nodded.

"That doesn't mean she will never want to. You imprinted on her. If everything works out and she has the chance she'll want to sometime." Emily told me, with her comforting voice. I had to agree with this.

"I know. I shouldn't be worried about this right now anyway. I just want to help her."

"So do we. I have no idea what we're going to do. Right now we wait for her to get up and see if we can get some information out of her. And we do not call the police." I sighed with relief. I know Sam said he didn't want to turn her in but I was afraid him or Emily was going to anyway.

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**A/N: I won't be begging for reviews every chapter, but it's always nice to know what people think, especially on the first chapter. Let me know what you all think! **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First off, I want to thank DarkBeforeTheDawn for helping me edit and make my story better :) Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed my story, I love you guys! **

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**Riley POV**

I woke up on the couch to people talking in the other room. I looked around and remembered that Sam Uley brought me to his house. I stayed still and listened in on the conversation. I know it's wrong but I was brought to this house, I have a right to know what's going on don't I?

"-she'll want to sometime." I could tell someone finished the end of a sentence but that's all I heard from the woman. Is she talking about me or someone else? I kept listening.

"I know. I shouldn't be worried about this right now anyway. I just want to help her." This was a man's voice but I don't think it was Sam. My thought was confirmed when his familiar voice speak next.

"So do we. I have no idea what we're going to do. Right now we wait for her to get up and see if we can get some information out of her. And we do not call the police."

Well… they think I'm sleeping so this can't be some act. And apparently they all want to help me. The best part is they're not going to turn me into the police. Maybe I _can _stay here for a little bit. Maybe I can even trust them. But I'm not going to spill my guts and tell them every little detail of my life. I feel kind of… hopeful. When the talking stopped I slowly got up and walked into the kitchen.

"Hi." I said quietly when everyone looked at me. At one end of the table Sam is sitting down. At the other end there is a woman with scars running down half her face. I quickly looked away so I wouldn't be staring. Sam said something about his fiancée, Emily, so that must be her. Sitting in between those two is the other man that was defiantly talking. I did a double take on him. Whoa, he's really handsome. I'm pretty sure he's the guy that said he just wanted to help me. When I looked at him he gave me a smile so I looked down.

"This is my fiancée, Emily," Sam told me. "And this is Embry. Why don't you sit down?" I slowly sat in the only chair left, across from Embry. I glanced at him and saw that he was looking at me. I looked away again. I'm not used to having boys look at me but it's probably because I'm dirty and most likely crazy looking.

I wish he would stop though. I hate people staring at me, even though I don't hate it as much when Embry does it. I feel self-conscious, but at the same time a little bit angry.

"Uh, it's nice to meet you…" I said, slightly embarrassed at my long pause.

"Did you sleep well?" Sam asked. I shrugged. I decided in my head that I'm not going to talk unless I absolutely have to from now on. It's probably the best idea.

"Are you hungry?" Emily asked. I shook my head. After a few more questions and a few more silent answers Sam sighed.

"Ok. Can you at least tell us your name? We won't turn you into the police; we won't track your home down and bring you back. Nothing similar to that, I promise. I just want to know your name." I looked around the table. Embry nodded.

"He's telling the truth. You don't have to be scared. It's just a name, go ahead." After almost a minutes pause I spoke up.

"Riley…"

I didn't eat breakfast. I normally don't eat a lot, but especially now I have hardly any appetite. Thankfully, the questions they asked weren't too bad. Emily gave me a tour of the house but I wasn't really paying attention. Not until she said something about my room.

"This will be your room for now." _My room? _"There's not much but it has all of the important things." _My room, _I thought to myself.

I nodded at Emily.

"Well go ahead, walk in." So I did and looked around. She's right, there isn't much to it. But it's more than I could ever ask for. My room at home was smaller, though it was painted a brighter, more vibrant color. I set my bag on my bed and turned around to face Emily.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

"You're welcome, Riley. How are you doing?" Emily asked me in a gentle voice. Well… A lot of things could answer that question: scared, terrified, hopeful, happy…

But I answered with "fine." She just nodded, not pushing it any further. I silently thanked Emily. She doesn't talk too much or attempt to pry information out of me but she shows she cares. Either that or she is an extremely good actress. I'm hoping it isn't the latter.

"So Riley, I was thinking. You don't have many clothes so maybe you and I could go shopping today or tomorrow. What do you think?"

"I… don't know." I wanted to say yes. But I also wanted to say hell no. So I settled with the common in between.

"Think about it alright? I'll give you some privacy." Emily left and closed the door behind her. I stood still, staring at the worn out door for a while. I really don't know how long it was. Five minutes? Ten?

After snapping out of my trance I sat on the floor and pulled a reading book from my small bag. Reading has always been my escape. It's being in somebody else's world. It always pulled me away from _my _world.

Before I could start reading, the sound of breaking glass coming from the kitchen caused my head to snap up and my heart beat a hundred miles per hour.

I dropped my book and doubled over with my hands over my head, clutching onto my hair, trying to stop what I knew was coming. But I can never stop it, never.

_He slammed the half empty glass onto the ground, causing me to jump. _

"_You bitch!" I held back the tears that threatened to overflow. I promised myself I would never let him see me cry. Another glass was slammed onto the ground, then a plate. After that was a bowl. Now there is nothing left on the counter for him to break._

"_Clean it up you useless piece of shit." I stepped out onto the shards of glass, still barefoot. Blood leaked from the soles of my feet. I knelt down to clean the liquid and glass…_

"Riley? Riley!" I looked up and slowly let go of my hair. Embry stood in front of me, looking very concerned. I scooted away from Embry. I only stopped when I hit the wall.

"Riley are you ok…?" He crouched down, staying away from me. "What happened?" I realized then that I must have been yelling and screaming. It happens almost every time I get a flashback.

"F-fine…" I mustered.

"You don't seem fine… Did something happen?"

"J-just a…"

"A what?"

"Nothing…"

Embry frowned but didn't keep asking what happened. He asked something else instead. "Do you want me to stay up here? I can." I shook my head. Embry's brows furrowed, like he wanted to stay anyway.

"Are you sure, Riley? I'll stay out of your way. I just want to make sure you're ok…"

"You can go…" I replied. Slowly, Embry got up and left but not without glancing back at me.

I wanted so badly to say yes. But my voice wouldn't work and my brain wouldn't control my head to nod. So unwillingly, I told him no. I feel lonely now… I want someone. Anyone.

**Embry POV**

After checking on Riley, I slowly made way back to the kitchen. It killed me to walk away from her while she was in so much pain, but I had to listen. Riley didn't want me there so I respected that. Emily was sweeping the last bit of glass into the dust pan.

"How's Riley?" Emily asked with concern in her voice.

"I'm not sure," I said. "She seemed really shaken but didn't want me to stay in there. I'll go check on her again though, in a little bit."

"The glass must have scared her, but that's really weird…" Emily told us.

"Yeah…" I managed to get out. I was still worried about Riley and couldn't think of much else. When I checked on her a second time, Riley was doing much better. As I expected, she still said no when I offered to stay with her again. All day and night I couldn't get Riley off my mind.

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**How was it? :) **


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